She'll Be Purring

Writers: Devin, Chelle
Date Posted: 5th October 2014

Characters: Relik, Kaphrad
Description: Relik inspects the ship that Kaphrad is refitting.
Location: Seacraft Hall
Date: month 9, day 5 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Korkary

"As you can see, sir, we're making good progress." Kaphrad gestured
toward the ship. "Would you like to see the engine close up?"

"Oh indeed. How many can she carry, did you say?" Relik was thinking in
terms of passengers and cargo for the moment.

"I should probably do a few more calculations, but I'd say two dozen,
plus cargo and fuel," Kaphrad said as he led the way onto the ship.

"Oh a good size then. A very good size." Walking behind him, he grabbed
some of the timbers, testing their strength and size and raised his eyes to
see the netting. All of that was relatively normal. The difference was going
to be in the middle of the ship.

"If you'll come this way..." The Hallsecond went over to the engine,
gesturing with pride. "There she is."

Relik saw it and was struck by the differences. "How does it effect the
weight distribution?" He was trying to envision it in his mind but it was
hard for a few reasons. No, he'd have to sail the thing himself to get the
right feel. In his mind though, it destroyed the clean lines of the vessel.

"It makes the center of the ship heavier, of course. We'll need to
store cargo differently, but we should be able to compensate with
little trouble." Kaphrad had been running different calculations.

"You haven't floated it yet then?" That would easily prove what might be
wrong and Relik walked forward, judging the size of the thing. "How much
coal does it eat?"

"That depends on how fast we want to run the wheel." Kaphrad patted
his pockets and came up with a scrap of hide. "I have some preliminary
figures here." He passed it to Relik.

Taking it, he looked it over and thought about that versus the amount of
coal being sent by the Hold. It depended upon how many monsters they would
eventually be running and how much they were under steam versus windpower. Like all
things, Relik couldn't quite plan for it. "The only thing I don't like is storing a
combustible, like coal, on a wooden boat. But there's no way to get around it."

Kaphrad nodded. "The danger is unfortunate, but I have a few of my men
working on safety measures."

"Would have to be. Including dingies to leave if we couldn't save the vessel. Is
there anyway we could maybe build a metal cage to shelter some of the wood
from the engine so if it did catch fire, the fire couldn't go through the
metal..like a bulkhead for water?" It was hard to think in those terms but he was
trying to change the way he looked at a boat.

"We're testing several options. The dingies were one of the first
things I thought of." If the ship caught fire, everyone would need to
get off quickly.

"When will we be ready to sail her?" He started thinking in terms of time,
touching his chin as he considered things.

"We should be able to do a short test run in a month, month and a
half." As long as there weren't any major issues along the way.

"Very well. I've got to get over to the storage buildings for the docks.
Korkary said something about having to put up another building. Send
me your report?" Relik knew it would all come down to seeing if it sailed.

"I will, Hallmaster." Kaphrad looked back at the engine. It was good
to make progress.

Last updated on the October 19th 2014

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She'll Be Purring